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List of birds of Christmas Island facts for kids

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The Birds of Christmas Island form a heterogeneous group of over 100 species. There is a core group of ten endemics that have evolved on the remote island in the eastern Indian Ocean for thousands of years, attended by a suite of regular migrants, opportunists and occasional visitors. Some 200 km from the nearest land, Java, Christmas Island was not occupied by humans until the late 19th century. It is now an Australian territory. The natural vegetation of most of the 140 km² island is rainforest, to which the endemic landbirds are adapted, while the seabirds have taken advantage of a breeding location which had no major natural predators.

After over a century of human exploitation of the phosphate deposits covering much of the island, two thirds of the rainforest cover remains and is now protected as a national park. However, gaps where the forest has been cleared, and the introduction of exotic fauna, continue to destabilise the island's biological diversity. The endemic Abbott's booby is threatened when nesting by wind turbulence caused by past forest clearance. However, the biggest immediate threat is the introduction and spread of yellow crazy ants, through both direct predation and ecosystem collapse. This has led to all the island's endemic bird species and subspecies being classified as Critically Endangered.

Meanwhile, the number of species recorded from Christmas Island continues to increase as birders, especially from Australia, attracted by the island's endemics, record a variety of vagrants previously unnoticed. Some of these may in time, as with the white-breasted waterhen, establish breeding populations. Christmas Island is now seen as a birding ‘hot spot’, not only for its endemics but also for the chance of recording new species for the Australian bird list, something reflected in the frequency of submissions of sightings to the Birds Australia Rarities Committee.

List of birds

Phasianidae

Anatidae

  • Garganey, Spatula querquedula - vagrant

Procellariidae

Hydrobatidae

  • Matsudaira's storm petrel, Oceanodroma matsudairae - vagrant

Phaethontidae

Sulidae

Phalacrocoracidae

Fregatidae

Pelecanidae

Ardeidae

Threskiornithidae

Accipitridae

Falconidae

Rallidae

Scolopacidae

  • Common sandpiper, Actitis hypoleucos - regular visitor
  • Ruddy turnstone, Arenaria interpres - regular visitor
  • Sharp-tailed sandpiper, Calidris acuminata - vagrant
  • Sanderling, Calidris alba - regular visitor
  • Curlew sandpiper, Calidris ferruginea - vagrant
  • Red-necked stint, Calidris ruficollis - regular visitor
  • Long-toed stint, Calidris subminuta - vagrant
  • Great knot, Calidris tenuirostris - vagrant
  • Pin-tailed snipe, Gallinago stenura - vagrant
  • Bar-tailed godwit, Limosa lapponica - vagrant
  • Little curlew, Numenius minutus - vagrant
  • Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus - regular visitor
  • Grey-tailed tattler, Tringa brevipes - vagrant
  • Wood sandpiper, Tringa glareola - regular visitor
  • Common greenshank, Tringa nebularia - regular visitor
  • Marsh sandpiper, Tringa stagnatilis - vagrant
  • Terek sandpiper, Xenus cinereus - vagrant
  • Common redshank, Tringa totanus - vagrant

Haematopodidae

Recurvirostridae

  • Black-winged stilt, Himantopus himantopus - vagrant

Charadriidae

  • Little ringed plover, Charadrius dubius - vagrant
  • Kentish plover, Charadrius alexandrinus - vagrant
  • Greater sand-plover, Charadrius leschenaultii - regular visitor
  • Lesser sand-plover, Charadrius mongolus - regular visitor
  • Oriental plover, Charadrius veredus - vagrant
  • Pacific golden-plover, Pluvialis fulva - regular visitor
  • Black-bellied plover, Pluvialis squatarola - vagrant
  • Masked lapwing, Vanellus miles - vagrant

Glareolidae

Laridae

Columbidae

Psittaculidae

Cuculidae

Strigidae

Caprimulgidae

  • Savanna nightjar, Caprimulgus affinis - vagrant

Apodidae

  • Pacific swift, Apus pacificus
  • House swift, Apus affinis - vagrant
  • White-throated needletail, Hirundapus caudacutus - vagrant
  • Christmas Island swiftlet, Collocalia natalis - endemic species
  • Mossy-nest swiftlet, Aerodramus salangana - vagrant

Alcedinidae

Coraciidae

  • Dollarbird, Eurystomus orientalis - vagrant

Pittidae

  • Blue-winged pitta, Pitta moluccensis - vagrant

Laniidae

  • Brown shrike, Lanius cristatus - vagrant
  • Tiger shrike, Lanius tigrinus - vagrant

Motacillidae

Passeridae

Hirundinidae

Acrocephalidae

  • Oriental reed warbler, Acrocephalus orientalis - vagrant

Megaluridae

  • Pallas's grasshopper warbler, Locustella certhiola - vagrant

Zosteropidae

Turdidae

  • Island thrush, Turdus poliocephalus

Muscicapidae

  • Dark-sided flycatcher, Muscicapa sibirica - vagrant
  • Blue-and-white flycatcher, Cyanoptila cyanomelana - vagrant

Sturnidae

  • Daurian starling, Agropsar sturninus - vagrant
  • Carter, Mike. (1994). Birds of Australia's Christmas Island. Wingspan 13: 18–21.
  • Garnett, Stephen T.; & Crowley, Gabriel M. (2000). The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2000. Environment Australia: Canberra. ISBN: 0-642-54683-5
  • Reville, Barry J. (1993). A Visitor’s Guide to the Birds of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. Christmas Island Natural History Association: Christmas Island. ISBN: 0-9591210-4-8
  • Stattersfield, Alison J.; Crosby, Michael J.; Long, Adrian J.; & Wege, David C. (1998). Endemic Bird Areas of the World. Priorities for Biodiversity Conservation. BirdLife International: Cambridge. ISBN: 0-946888-33-7
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